Labor Day
Posted by Andy on September 3, 2007
Happy Labor Day to everybody. Here are some notes on pitchers who have labored the most so far this season (through Saturday):
Most pitches thrown so far this year:
Cnt Player **Pit** Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Str +----+-----------------+--------+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+ 1 Danny Haren 3103 2007 26 OAK AL 29 29 0 0 0 14 6 .700 0 191.1 170 74 61 47 161 2.87 152 20 791 734 34 5 1 3 1 6 8 17 6 0 0 9 .232 .278 .373 .651 74 1967 2 Scott Kazmir 3095 2007 23 TBD AL 29 29 0 0 0 11 8 .579 0 175.2 172 82 73 80 194 3.74 122 16 762 669 35 4 1 5 5 3 17 11 6 3 0 7 .257 .339 .393 .732 92 1944 3 Carlos Zambrano 3074 2007 26 CHC NL 28 28 1 0 0 14 11 .560 0 179.2 158 86 81 82 149 4.06 111 21 772 669 32 4 3 13 5 3 17 3 1 1 0 3 .236 .330 .390 .720 89 1890 4 C.C. Sabathia 3058 2007 26 CLE AL 29 29 3 1 0 15 7 .682 0 203 207 84 76 31 176 3.37 130 19 831 781 55 1 1 8 5 6 16 8 9 0 0 1 .265 .298 .411 .709 88 2028 5 Gil Meche 3043 2007 28 KCR AL 29 29 0 0 0 7 12 .368 0 182.1 190 87 78 54 129 3.85 123 19 771 702 29 4 2 3 5 7 19 3 4 2 0 2 .271 .322 .405 .727 86 1920 6 Joe Blanton 2993 2007 26 OAK AL 29 29 3 1 0 11 9 .550 0 197.1 200 90 85 31 122 3.88 112 14 810 767 36 4 3 3 4 5 14 19 4 1 1 3 .261 .290 .373 .663 77 1954 7 Jake Peavy 2979 2007 26 SDP NL 28 28 0 0 0 16 5 .762 0 184.2 135 47 43 55 206 2.10 197 7 737 667 24 4 2 6 5 4 14 17 2 1 0 4 .202 .268 .282 .550 52 1953 8 Daniel Cabrera 2976 2007 26 BAL AL 28 28 1 0 0 9 13 .409 0 175.1 163 103 99 91 139 5.08 87 22 773 658 28 2 4 13 9 2 20 18 3 0 1 7 .248 .349 .397 .746 97 1734 9 Daisuke Matsuzaka 2955 2007 26 BOS AL 27 27 1 0 0 13 11 .542 0 176.1 159 76 76 66 174 3.88 117 20 745 662 36 2 1 12 3 2 13 16 7 0 0 4 .240 .319 .391 .710 86 1884 10 Aaron Harang 2950 2007 29 CIN NL 28 28 2 1 0 14 3 .824 0 190 168 78 74 44 174 3.51 134 22 775 719 38 3 3 8 3 1 11 11 7 0 1 11 .234 .285 .387 .672 72 1965 11 Erik Bedard 2946 2007 28 BAL AL 28 28 1 1 0 13 5 .722 0 182 141 66 64 57 221 3.16 140 19 733 665 22 2 0 5 2 4 13 5 2 0 0 3 .212 .278 .337 .615 63 1892 12 Doug Davis 2920 2007 31 ARI NL 28 28 0 0 0 12 11 .522 0 167.1 175 83 76 84 122 4.09 114 18 745 646 33 2 7 5 9 1 18 5 5 6 1 8 .271 .359 .412 .771 99 1708 13 Dontrelle Willis 2906 2007 25 FLA NL 29 29 0 0 0 8 14 .364 0 172.1 209 111 98 70 120 5.12 82 25 795 697 42 5 3 10 11 7 13 6 1 1 1 6 .300 .369 .482 .851 129 1785 14 Javier Vazquez 2902 2007 30 CHW AL 27 27 2 0 0 11 8 .579 0 181.2 163 83 79 45 163 3.91 117 27 741 679 31 4 2 5 5 7 12 6 1 0 0 4 .240 .289 .417 .706 82 1882 15 Livan Hernandez 2881 2007 32 ARI NL 28 28 1 0 0 9 9 .500 0 177.1 206 96 92 67 78 4.67 100 28 784 690 36 5 1 4 15 8 16 14 5 1 2 3 .299 .360 .487 .847 116 1727 16 Brandon Webb 2880 2007 28 ARI NL 28 28 4 3 0 14 9 .609 0 197 171 74 62 61 170 2.83 164 10 813 738 37 2 6 4 6 4 16 23 8 1 0 2 .232 .292 .328 .620 61 1869 17 James Shields 2874 2007 25 TBD AL 28 28 1 0 0 10 8 .556 0 193 187 91 88 33 168 4.10 111 27 793 743 38 5 0 10 3 4 10 7 6 0 0 7 .252 .291 .425 .716 85 1880 18 Roy Oswalt 2873 2007 29 HOU NL 29 28 1 0 0 14 6 .700 0 185.1 187 69 66 55 139 3.21 138 13 791 722 44 3 3 6 5 3 17 3 0 0 1 1 .259 .316 .382 .698 84 1934 19 Matt Cain 2870 2007 22 SFG NL 27 27 1 0 0 7 13 .350 0 171.1 149 71 68 73 136 3.57 123 10 718 630 39 5 2 4 8 3 14 8 4 0 0 11 .237 .318 .362 .680 81 1799 20 Jeff Francis 2862 2007 26 COL NL 28 28 1 1 0 14 6 .700 0 177.2 193 83 81 49 133 4.10 114 20 758 693 37 2 4 6 7 3 18 5 3 3 1 1 .278 .330 .424 .754 94 1779
I worry a little bit about Tampa Bay with both Kazmir and Shields being so young and in the top 20. (Matt Cain is the youngest on this list, though.) Sometimes we forget that innings are not all created equally. Strikeout pitchers tend to throw more pitches to achieve the same number of outs as non-strikeout pitchers, and while Kazmir has thrown fewer innings than the 4 other guys to have at least 3000 pitches, he's actually thrown basically the same number of pitches. Tampa Bay, especially given that they once again will not be making the playoffs, need to protect the arms of their young players.
Note, too, how few players 30 or older made this list: just Davis, Vazquez, and Hernandez. (Although two pitchers over 40--Woody Williams and Tom Glavine--are among the next six players after the top 20.)
And here are the top 20 for pitches per start:
Cnt Player **Pt/GS** Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+---------+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 Carlos Zambrano 109.8 2007 26 CHC NL 28 28 1 0 0 14 11 .560 0 179.2 158 86 81 82 149 4.06 111 21 772 669 32 4 3 13 5 3 17 3 1 1 0 3 .236 .330 .390 .720 89 3074 1890 2 Daisuke Matsuzaka 109.4 2007 26 BOS AL 27 27 1 0 0 13 11 .542 0 176.1 159 76 76 66 174 3.88 117 20 745 662 36 2 1 12 3 2 13 16 7 0 0 4 .240 .319 .391 .710 86 2955 1884 3 Javier Vazquez 107.5 2007 30 CHW AL 27 27 2 0 0 11 8 .579 0 181.2 163 83 79 45 163 3.91 117 27 741 679 31 4 2 5 5 7 12 6 1 0 0 4 .240 .289 .417 .706 82 2902 1882 4 Danny Haren 107.0 2007 26 OAK AL 29 29 0 0 0 14 6 .700 0 191.1 170 74 61 47 161 2.87 152 20 791 734 34 5 1 3 1 6 8 17 6 0 0 9 .232 .278 .373 .651 74 3103 1967 5 Scott Kazmir 106.7 2007 23 TBD AL 29 29 0 0 0 11 8 .579 0 175.2 172 82 73 80 194 3.74 122 16 762 669 35 4 1 5 5 3 17 11 6 3 0 7 .257 .339 .393 .732 92 3095 1944 6 Jake Peavy 106.4 2007 26 SDP NL 28 28 0 0 0 16 5 .762 0 184.2 135 47 43 55 206 2.10 197 7 737 667 24 4 2 6 5 4 14 17 2 1 0 4 .202 .268 .282 .550 52 2979 1953 7 Matt Cain 106.3 2007 22 SFG NL 27 27 1 0 0 7 13 .350 0 171.1 149 71 68 73 136 3.57 123 10 718 630 39 5 2 4 8 3 14 8 4 0 0 11 .237 .318 .362 .680 81 2870 1799 8 Daniel Cabrera 106.3 2007 26 BAL AL 28 28 1 0 0 9 13 .409 0 175.1 163 103 99 91 139 5.08 87 22 773 658 28 2 4 13 9 2 20 18 3 0 1 7 .248 .349 .397 .746 97 2976 1734 9 Roy Halladay 105.8 2007 30 TOR AL 26 26 6 1 0 14 6 .700 0 186 188 83 80 42 119 3.87 119 13 763 710 33 1 2 2 2 7 20 19 6 1 0 4 .265 .305 .369 .674 76 2752 1809 10 Esteban Loaiza 105.5 2007 35 OAK AL 2 2 0 0 0 1 0 1.000 0 14.2 10 3 3 4 5 1.84 236 1 56 52 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 .192 .250 .288 .538 45 211 137 11 Aaron Harang 105.4 2007 29 CIN NL 28 28 2 1 0 14 3 .824 0 190 168 78 74 44 174 3.51 134 22 775 719 38 3 3 8 3 1 11 11 7 0 1 11 .234 .285 .387 .672 72 2950 1965 12 C.C. Sabathia 105.4 2007 26 CLE AL 29 29 3 1 0 15 7 .682 0 203 207 84 76 31 176 3.37 130 19 831 781 55 1 1 8 5 6 16 8 9 0 0 1 .265 .298 .411 .709 88 3058 2028 13 Erik Bedard 105.2 2007 28 BAL AL 28 28 1 1 0 13 5 .722 0 182 141 66 64 57 221 3.16 140 19 733 665 22 2 0 5 2 4 13 5 2 0 0 3 .212 .278 .337 .615 63 2946 1892 14 Justin Verlander 105.1 2007 24 DET AL 27 27 1 1 0 15 5 .750 0 169 152 75 69 59 156 3.67 121 14 730 651 30 2 3 17 3 0 9 4 1 2 1 17 .233 .314 .350 .664 76 2838 1787 15 Gil Meche 104.9 2007 28 KCR AL 29 29 0 0 0 7 12 .368 0 182.1 190 87 78 54 129 3.85 123 19 771 702 29 4 2 3 5 7 19 3 4 2 0 2 .271 .322 .405 .727 86 3043 1920 16 Oliver Perez 104.8 2007 25 NYM NL 24 24 0 0 0 12 9 .571 0 148.2 126 70 56 64 147 3.39 124 20 634 560 27 1 0 4 3 3 9 11 2 2 0 6 .225 .307 .384 .691 88 2514 1572 17 Doug Davis 104.3 2007 31 ARI NL 28 28 0 0 0 12 11 .522 0 167.1 175 83 76 84 122 4.09 114 18 745 646 33 2 7 5 9 1 18 5 5 6 1 8 .271 .359 .412 .771 99 2920 1708 18 John Lackey 103.7 2007 28 LAA AL 27 27 2 2 0 16 8 .667 0 181.1 184 76 64 46 138 3.18 135 16 762 705 33 5 2 11 0 0 21 16 5 1 1 5 .261 .316 .390 .706 90 2799 1797 19 Mark Buehrle 103.5 2007 28 CHW AL 27 27 3 1 0 9 9 .500 0 181.2 181 74 70 39 105 3.47 132 19 746 692 40 1 4 5 6 4 19 2 3 4 0 1 .262 .304 .405 .709 83 2794 1798 20 Barry Zito 103.2 2007 29 SFG NL 28 27 0 0 0 9 11 .450 0 160.2 150 88 82 69 111 4.59 95 20 698 611 32 4 3 3 11 4 12 5 1 1 0 3 .245 .323 .409 .732 93 2804 1716 21 Joe Blanton 103.2 2007 26 OAK AL 29 29 3 1 0 11 9 .550 0 197.1 200 90 85 31 122 3.88 112 14 810 767 36 4 3 3 4 5 14 19 4 1 1 3 .261 .290 .373 .663 77 2993 1954
Loaiza appears on the merit of just two starts with Oakland, so I extended the list to 21. Overall, this is a pretty similar leaderboard to the previous one.
In case you didn't believe me about strikeout pitchers needing more pitches than non-strikeout pitchers, here are the leaders this season in fewest pitches per inning pitched: (minimum 100 IP, this one I had to calculate in Excel)
1 Greg Maddux 13.50
2 Tim Hudson 14.02
3 Chris Sampson 14.27
4 Chien-Ming Wang 14.39
5 Scott Baker 14.42
6 Aaron Cook 14.50
7 Paul Byrd 14.57
8 Fausto Carmona 14.58
9 Paul Maholm 14.62
10 Brandon Webb 14.62
See? Mainly non-strikeout pitchers.
Here are the leader for most pitches per inning pitched (minimum 100 IP):
10 Ervin Santana 17.18
9 Kip Wells 17.19
8 Randy Wolf 17.34
7 Matt Chico 17.42
6 Doug Davis 17.47
5 Barry Zito 17.50
4 Scott Kazmir 17.67
3 Claudio Vargas 17.78
2 Kyle Davies 18.07
1 Edwin Jackson 18.57
Some of these guys are strikeout pitchers, but mainly most of them have just been hit hard. Allowing more baserunners each inning is an easy way to push up your pitch count.
Here are the most pitches thrown by relievers so far this year, with no more than 10% of games as a starter:
Cnt Player **Pit** Year Age Tm Lg G GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Str +----+-----------------+--------+----+---+---+--+---+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+ 1 Shawn Chacon 1469 2007 29 PIT NL 56 4 0 0 10 5 4 .556 1 90 88 41 41 45 75 4.10 107 9 398 335 17 2 10 5 9 4 8 7 4 2 0 1 .263 .355 .406 .761 101 896 2 Carlos Villanueva 1430 2007 23 MIL NL 53 1 0 0 8 6 3 .667 1 82.2 75 45 43 38 76 4.68 94 12 359 314 21 1 2 3 3 1 5 6 2 0 0 3 .239 .326 .427 .753 99 867 3 Kevin Gregg 1266 2007 29 FLA NL 63 0 0 0 46 0 4 .000 27 72.1 51 25 24 34 75 2.99 141 5 301 258 8 1 1 6 3 0 4 3 0 1 0 5 .198 .305 .295 .600 65 792 4 Heath Bell 1257 2007 29 SDP NL 68 0 0 0 14 6 4 .600 2 77.1 55 20 20 22 79 2.33 177 3 301 272 6 2 1 1 4 1 8 4 3 0 0 4 .202 .264 .272 .536 47 830 5 Joel Peralta 1239 2007 31 KCR AL 52 0 0 0 16 1 3 .250 1 78.1 82 35 33 17 65 3.79 125 8 327 302 20 6 5 2 2 4 6 8 0 1 0 1 .272 .311 .457 .768 94 825 6 Scott Proctor 1236 2007 30 TOT ML 67 0 0 0 13 5 5 .500 0 73.2 67 36 32 37 49 3.91 111 11 322 273 8 2 4 3 2 7 5 6 4 0 1 4 .245 .334 .410 .744 99 770 7 Saul Rivera 1227 2007 29 WSN NL 71 0 0 0 15 4 5 .444 3 78 73 32 32 33 53 3.69 116 1 330 288 23 1 4 1 4 4 11 1 2 0 0 4 .253 .328 .351 .679 84 758 8 Jason Grilli 1203 2007 30 DET AL 50 0 0 0 10 5 3 .625 0 69.2 74 42 38 29 52 4.91 90 5 311 272 17 1 1 4 1 4 5 1 2 0 0 5 .272 .346 .397 .743 97 744 9 Kevin Correia 1197 2007 26 SFG NL 54 3 0 0 9 3 6 .333 0 71.2 70 30 30 29 55 3.77 116 7 313 277 16 2 7 2 3 2 4 7 2 0 1 1 .253 .326 .401 .727 93 767 10 Jon Rauch 1167 2007 28 WSN NL 75 0 0 0 25 8 4 .667 3 73.2 67 34 32 18 54 3.91 110 5 304 279 12 2 4 0 2 5 4 4 1 0 0 2 .240 .281 .351 .632 70 791 11 Joaquin Benoit 1162 2007 29 TEX AL 59 0 0 0 15 7 3 .700 2 71.1 58 22 21 22 79 2.65 174 4 289 262 14 1 2 2 2 1 4 1 1 0 0 3 .221 .286 .328 .614 59 720 12 Willie Eyre 1159 2007 28 TEX AL 33 2 0 0 10 4 6 .400 1 68 78 42 39 32 42 5.16 89 8 307 268 17 1 4 1 5 1 5 2 2 0 0 5 .291 .368 .451 .819 111 692 13 Gary Glover 1144 2007 30 TBD AL 55 0 0 0 14 5 4 .556 2 65 81 42 40 23 41 5.54 83 11 291 264 14 5 3 1 1 2 6 5 1 0 0 2 .307 .362 .523 .885 129 709 14 Luis Vizcaino 1136 2007 32 NYY AL 69 0 0 0 13 8 2 .800 0 68 54 31 30 39 52 3.97 108 4 296 248 21 0 11 2 1 6 4 5 1 0 0 1 .218 .322 .351 .673 82 664 15 Dave Borkowski 1130 2007 30 HOU NL 53 0 0 0 15 3 3 .500 0 60.2 70 40 35 30 54 5.19 85 7 281 242 18 1 8 3 3 3 4 1 0 0 0 3 .289 .371 .459 .830 118 724 16 Chris Bootcheck 1126 2007 28 LAA AL 40 0 0 0 15 3 2 .600 0 69 61 32 30 19 47 3.91 110 6 283 254 10 3 2 5 1 4 8 5 2 0 1 4 .240 .301 .374 .675 81 725 17 Scot Shields 1116 2007 31 LAA AL 60 0 0 0 11 3 4 .429 2 65.1 52 27 25 28 60 3.44 125 5 270 238 11 0 0 3 0 1 7 2 1 1 0 5 .218 .307 .328 .635 73 687 18 Oscar Villarreal 1099 2007 25 ATL NL 48 0 0 0 11 2 2 .500 1 72.1 68 37 33 29 57 4.11 105 6 314 269 14 2 8 4 3 9 4 3 0 0 0 5 .253 .325 .387 .712 92 674 19 Bobby Howry 1098 2007 33 CHC NL 65 0 0 0 28 5 7 .417 7 67.1 64 28 27 17 59 3.61 125 7 281 258 8 3 3 2 3 1 3 2 0 0 0 1 .248 .299 .384 .683 78 714 20 Aaron Heilman 1095 2007 28 NYM NL 64 0 0 0 24 7 6 .538 1 68.1 62 31 25 15 49 3.29 128 8 282 260 11 2 1 4 2 1 4 6 2 0 0 2 .238 .289 .388 .677 83 721
Note that Chacon has 4 starts, otherwise he wouldn't lead this list. For relievers, I think that games appeared is relevant too, since relievers might throw as many pitches warming up as they do in the actual game. Top 20 in appearances:
Cnt Player **G** Year Age Tm Lg GS CG SHO GF W L W-L% SV IP H R ER BB SO ERA ERA+ HR BF AB 2B 3B IBB HBP SH SF GDP SB CS Pk BK WP BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ Pit Str +----+-----------------+-------+----+---+---+--+--+--+---+--+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+----+--+--+---+---+---+---+---+---+--+--+--+--+-----+-----+-----+-----+----+----+----+ 1 Jon Rauch 75 2007 28 WSN NL 0 0 0 25 8 4 .667 3 73.2 67 34 32 18 54 3.91 110 5 304 279 12 2 4 0 2 5 4 4 1 0 0 2 .240 .281 .351 .632 70 1167 791 2 Saul Rivera 71 2007 29 WSN NL 0 0 0 15 4 5 .444 3 78 73 32 32 33 53 3.69 116 1 330 288 23 1 4 1 4 4 11 1 2 0 0 4 .253 .328 .351 .679 84 1227 758 3 Jamie Walker 70 2007 35 BAL AL 0 0 0 14 1 2 .333 4 50.1 51 19 16 14 34 2.86 155 3 215 196 8 1 4 0 0 5 3 2 1 0 0 3 .260 .302 .357 .659 75 786 518 4 Trever Miller 70 2007 34 HOU NL 0 0 0 11 0 0 1 41 43 23 22 21 43 4.83 92 4 191 163 11 2 6 4 3 0 1 3 0 0 0 1 .264 .362 .429 .791 108 737 462 5 Luis Vizcaino 69 2007 32 NYY AL 0 0 0 13 8 2 .800 0 68 54 31 30 39 52 3.97 108 4 296 248 21 0 11 2 1 6 4 5 1 0 0 1 .218 .322 .351 .673 82 1136 664 6 Joe Beimel 68 2007 30 LAD NL 0 0 0 8 3 1 .750 1 57 56 27 26 20 34 4.11 109 1 240 213 13 0 4 0 5 2 9 1 3 4 2 2 .263 .323 .338 .661 75 833 521 7 Scott Downs 68 2007 31 TOR AL 0 0 0 11 2 2 .500 0 50.1 39 14 13 23 50 2.32 199 3 208 182 4 0 3 1 1 1 5 0 1 1 1 2 .214 .304 .286 .590 56 799 480 8 Jonathan Broxton 68 2007 23 LAD NL 0 0 0 15 4 2 .667 2 70 57 21 17 23 83 2.19 205 1 284 260 10 2 3 0 0 1 5 5 3 1 0 4 .219 .282 .285 .567 52 1094 728 9 Heath Bell 68 2007 29 SDP NL 0 0 0 14 6 4 .600 2 77.1 55 20 20 22 79 2.33 177 3 301 272 6 2 1 1 4 1 8 4 3 0 0 4 .202 .264 .272 .536 47 1257 830 10 Matt Capps 67 2007 23 PIT NL 0 0 0 38 4 6 .400 15 70 58 19 17 15 54 2.19 201 4 282 259 11 0 10 3 3 2 3 1 0 0 0 1 .224 .272 .313 .585 56 990 702 11 Scott Proctor 67 2007 30 TOT ML 0 0 0 13 5 5 .500 0 73.2 67 36 32 37 49 3.91 111 11 322 273 8 2 4 3 2 7 5 6 4 0 1 4 .245 .334 .410 .744 99 1236 770 12 Chad Qualls 67 2007 28 HOU NL 0 0 0 13 6 3 .667 3 70.2 73 24 23 19 70 2.93 151 8 292 265 6 2 4 3 3 2 10 6 5 1 0 2 .275 .329 .404 .733 93 1073 727 13 Chad Bradford 67 2007 32 BAL AL 0 0 0 11 2 6 .250 1 54 67 26 22 12 27 3.67 121 0 244 223 8 0 1 5 3 1 5 2 1 0 0 0 .300 .349 .336 .685 83 818 564 14 Cla Meredith 66 2007 24 SDP NL 0 0 0 14 4 6 .400 0 65.1 82 32 25 14 46 3.44 120 5 284 265 10 0 3 2 1 2 13 5 2 0 1 2 .309 .346 .404 .750 107 955 632 15 Tyler Yates 66 2007 29 ATL NL 0 0 0 13 2 3 .400 2 58.1 56 38 32 28 61 4.94 87 5 261 225 12 2 8 3 4 1 1 5 1 0 0 2 .249 .339 .387 .726 95 955 582 16 Pat Neshek 66 2007 26 MIN AL 0 0 0 18 7 2 .778 0 62 36 20 18 22 68 2.61 168 6 242 211 7 1 4 1 4 4 2 1 1 0 0 2 .171 .248 .299 .547 44 945 613 17 Derrick Turnbow 65 2007 29 MIL NL 0 0 0 11 3 4 .429 1 59.1 38 27 26 35 78 3.94 111 4 250 211 4 1 0 2 1 1 5 1 3 1 0 7 .180 .301 .265 .566 54 1007 612 18 Bobby Howry 65 2007 33 CHC NL 0 0 0 28 5 7 .417 7 67.1 64 28 27 17 59 3.61 125 7 281 258 8 3 3 2 3 1 3 2 0 0 0 1 .248 .299 .384 .683 78 1098 714 19 Aaron Heilman 64 2007 28 NYM NL 0 0 0 24 7 6 .538 1 68.1 62 31 25 15 49 3.29 128 8 282 260 11 2 1 4 2 1 4 6 2 0 0 2 .238 .289 .388 .677 83 1095 721 20 Russ Springer 64 2007 38 STL NL 0 0 0 15 7 1 .875 0 53.1 36 17 15 17 55 2.53 170 3 213 185 6 2 1 3 3 5 4 3 2 0 0 1 .195 .267 .297 .564 51 891 567 21 Chad Cordero 64 2007 25 WSN NL 0 0 0 50 2 3 .400 29 64 61 26 23 23 46 3.23 133 8 269 243 10 1 2 0 2 1 6 2 2 0 1 5 .251 .315 .399 .714 92 1075 670
Wow--Washington's holding down the first two spots. Both Rauch and Rivera have pitched pretty well this year, but I wonder how often a single team has two players at the top. Washington's closer, Cordero, is also the only full-time closer to appear here. Did you know that Cordero has pitched 1 inning exactly in virtually every appearance this season?
September 5th, 2007 at 12:31 am
"I worry a little bit about Tampa Bay with both Kazmir and Shields being so young and in the top 20. (Matt Cain is the youngest on this list, though.) Sometimes we forget that innings are not all created equally. Strikeout pitchers tend to throw more pitches to achieve the same number of outs as non-strikeout pitchers, and while Kazmir has thrown fewer innings than the 4 other guys to have at least 3000 pitches, he’s actually thrown basically the same number of pitches. Tampa Bay, especially given that they once again will not be making the playoffs, need to protect the arms of their young players."
I'm somewhat of an agnostic on pitch counts, though I do think there's evidence that very young guys shouldn't be worked too hard in the majors. But Kazmir has been so babied in his career. The Mets wouldn't let him throw more than 50 pitches as a minor leaguer. He was barely pitched the last 2 months of last season when he had some soreness. OK, maybe Tampa's games are "meaningless" (again), but at some point, the guy has to pitch to learn how to pitch. You can't keep him in bubblewrap forever. If the team is ever going become even average, I think they need to see their most talented pitcher out there, and if he's ever going to step to the next level, he needs experience. I'll submit that he's never going to become an elite pitcher if they keep slamming the brakes on him every time they fall out of the race. Maybe he'll blow his arm out, and we'll lose a guy who wins 10 games a season. He'll probably blow his arm out anyway if Tampa ever gets into a pennant race, since he's not conditioned to pitch more than few innings.
Beyond the scope of this blog, perhaps, but I wanted to say it.